A land back in time - Cerillos, NM - June 2009

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So we had a free day and we decided to do something close to town (Albuquerque). From Albuquerque we took old Route 66 east for a couple miles until we hit HIGHWAY 14 that runs behind the Sandia mountains all the way up to Santa Fe. These days the road is pretty desolate, but in the old days this was the hot-bed for turquoise so it is the aptly names TURQUOISE TRAIL. It still is to a degree. First up we took a little detour up to the top of the Sandia Mountain. Up and up we went past the ski area until we got to the top. It was absolutely freezing up there and this was the middle of June. The clouds were starting to roll over the Sandia so it was a pretty spectacular site as the clouds started rolling down the mountain. As we have written in our first blog you can also take the tram to the top from the other side. At the top you have HIGH FINANCE RESTAURANT. We did not care for the food, but if you want to get buzzed/ drunk really quickly then go there, because it is probably about 7500 feet above sea level. So back to highway 14 we went. The secret to the trip is to take the dirt roads and explore. We followed the road to MADRID. A small artist town full of really cheap turquoise jewelry and some fun art. Think Santa Fe/ Sedona, but just on a smaller scale. You walk through the whole town in 10 minutes. It's very colorful, everyone is nice and friendly and each store is different than the one you just walked out of.

We had lunch at the MINE SHAFT TAVERN. Old dingy bar with barely enough light to see what is on your plate. This is where the locals come. The buffalo burger was goooddd. It's just interesting to sit and look at the decoration. Dollar bills are up all over the place with messages written on them. On weekends they have bands coming in for entertainment. After lunch we just cruised the town by foot (literally takes 10 minutes to walk through the whole town), but there is some really cool stuff for really cheap. We also made a quick stop at the COAL MINE MUSEUM. Just your typical run of the mill coal museum. We hit the road again and next up...

CERILLOS... In our book Cerillos is described as a ghost town. Not entirely true, but give it another 10 years and it could be. And by ghost town I mean there will be no one. We drove through the town for a little bit. Buildings are deserted, windows are broken and more and more buildings are falling in disrepair. Sad story of a small town going to waste just because there is nothing left. We started taking a dirt road and stopped after about 10 miles in the middle of nowhere - we got some really cool pictures. Train tracks running in the middle of nowhere. A big old tree standing in the middle of nowhere. A dry riverbed miles from any people. And 10 minutes later we were in Santa Fe.

So nothing exciting, but something to do on a lazy afternoon or just a different way to get to Santa Fe from Albuquerque. We loved the back roads and that was probably the highlight of our trip. We just love to drive. So the Turquoise Trail was in one of our books so another one to cross off... 50 down and 3,272 to go.

Til next time

From turquoise country

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